Engine driven welding machines include a gas powered engine that drives a generator which supplies power to a welding electrode. One commercially successful line of engine driven welding machines is the POWER-ARC™ series from LINCOLN ELECTRIC®, an example of which is illustrated in FIG. 1. This engine driven welding machine 100 includes a tubular frame 102, mounts 104 connected to the frame 102, and an assembly 108 of an engine 110 and a generator 112 supported on the mounts 104. The frame 102 has spaced apart end portions 114, 116. The engine 110 is adjacent to the end portion 114 and the generator 112 is adjacent to the end portion 116. The end portions 114, 116 are mirror images of one another and each include a straight top portion 120 and a pair of spaced apart side portions 122, that extend downward from the top portion 120. Straight bottom portions 124 connect the spaced apart side portions 122 of the end portions 114, 116 to form a unitary tubular frame 102.
The engine 110 and the generator 112 may have considerable weight. The engine driven welding machine 100 may be transported to various locations. For example, the engine driven welding machine 100 may be placed in a vehicle, such as in an open bed of a truck, for example a pick-up truck bed. To move the engine driven welding machine 100 to the bed of the truck, two or more people may lift the frame 102 and place the welding machine in the truck. The two or more people may grab any portion of the frame 102 to perform this lift. For example, the two or more people may grab the top portions 120 and/or the side portions 122, 124 of the end portions 114, 116 and/or the bottom portions 130, 132 during lifting of the engine driven welding machine into the truck.